I REMEMBER ringing Geordie McMullan five days straight. It was the same time every day. Lunchtime. Ten-past-one. It was the only time of the day I could catch him for 10 minutes.
He would sit outside his workplace eating his sandwiches before going back to the factory floor. It was the week leading up to Cliftonville’s historic Champions League first leg game against Celtic at Solitude in July 2013.
I’d spoken to the-then Reds manager Tommy Breslin and asked which of his players would be interested in writing a daily diary piece for The Irish News ahead of the Celtic clash.
Geordie was the man I was thinking of. Tommy was of the same mind. Being an easy-going chap, Geordie agreed. So at lunchtime, Geordie would chat about his day and I would ghost-write the diary. During those brief phone calls, I got to know Geordie a bit better than before.
His first diary entry made Alfie, his dog, famous. His diary opened: “I’ve had Alfie for roughly four years. He’s a miniature schnauzer and is the first dog I’ve had. When Geraldine and I got married a few years back, we talked about having kids.
“I thought it would be a good idea to get a wee dog first, just to look after something. Geraldine insisted she never wanted a dog. I completely ignored her. I think it was her 30th birthday and I brought home wee Alfie and the rest is history.
“Now, we’ve two kids. Cillian is three-and-a-half and Ruari is just eight months. They’re two great kids. Life’s good. Alfie is like part of the family...”
That was three years ago. Geordie and Geraldine have since celebrated the birth of their third child. Alfie still gets his two-to-three walks per day. Walking Alfie, Geordie says, is “good thinking time”. Perhaps it was on one of those nightly walks with Alfie that Geordie made the decision to retire from football.
I caught up with the Cliftonville midfielder a few weeks before his testimonial game with Celtic last month. It was in this interview he first mentioned retiring at the end of the season. It caused a bit of stir among Reds fans.
Realising the ripple-effect of his words, Geordie insisted nothing was definitive and that he would consider his options when the season was wrapped up. With three young children at home and a nagging back injury, you could understand why he was thinking about hanging up his boots.
But I didn’t think he would retire. Although approaching his 35th birthday, Geordie was still a vital cog in the Cliftonville wheel. He could still manage 20-plus games next season. Easily.
He was the type of player who never relied on pace - his game was based on intelligence. Regardless of what his birth certificate says, he could still thrive in the Irish League next season, even with slightly reduced lung power.
He would never be deemed a bit-part player or someone who was merely picking up a wage, or regarded as hindering the progress of some fresh-faced reserve team player.
Club chairman Gerard Lawlor commented: “He’s the one player, when sitting down to discuss a new deal, that I knew there would be an agreement at the end of the meeting.
"In fact, on one occasion we agreed a new contract without discussing money.”
Sometimes when someone has played for the same club for 14 years, sentimentality can seep into the equation. But in this instance, sentiment has nothing to do with it.
Ask the most demanding of Cliftonville fans and they’ll agree Geordie McMullan still had more to give. That’s why when Cliftonville’s press statement landed in our in-box on Wednesday afternoon confirming McMullan’s retirement decision, it still came as a surprise. Geordie’s final game turned out to be Cliftonville’s dramatic Europa League Qualifier win over Glentoran last week that guaranteed the club £164,000 in prize money.
Prior to his retirement decision, the north Belfast club announced Marc Smyth, Johnny Flynn, Caoimhin Bonner, Paul George and Ciaran Murray would be leaving the club.
There is a massive rebuilding job required at Solitude - probably bigger than the casual observer imagines. Manager Gerard Lyttle has the onerous task of constructing a brand new central-defence and carrying out major renovation work on his midfield this summer. Having McMullan involved during that crucial transitional phase would have been a huge boost to Lyttle and his coaching staff.
In various conversations and interviews with Geordie, I always felt he sold himself short as a footballer. His in-built modesty and working-class background guarded against him having visions of grandeur. He was embarrassed receiving his first pay packet at Cliftonville and equally so when David O’Leary was guest speaker at his testimonial dinner last year.
In the many tributes on social media following his retirement decision, Marc Smyth articulated McMullan’s contribution best: “This best sums you up,” wrote Smyth, “‘an amazingly gifted player who remained an unaffected human being. I was honoured to play with you, share a dressing room with you and more importantly, win with you. That huddle belonged to Georgie McMullan and will never be the same.”
More revealing was how he never regarded himself to be the “most technically gifted of players” when, in actual fact, the opposite was true. You couldn’t intimidate Geordie McMullan. He was fearless in the tackle and he wouldn’t think twice about kicking you. And it didn’t matter what size you were. He wore the red jersey like a badge of honour.
But most of all, he was master of the football. When he gained possession, you knew the ball was safe. A brilliant short passer, his decision-making in pressure situations was as close to perfection as you’d get. His former team-mate Barry Johnston observed that McMullan could control a game regardless of what position he played.
But probably the biggest reason he became so popular among the Reds faithful over the last 14 years, and admired by his peers and Irish League managers, was how he interpreted the game.
He could find the game’s pulse in an instant. He had an intimate sense of what the avid Cliftonville fan felt on the terrace, he would reflect their passion and play accordingly.
His stoppage-time penalty against Linfield that won the league title in 2013 will live long in the memory. But my favourite Geordie McMullan moment was in a league game at Solitude against Linfield earlier this season.
After coming on as a second-half substitute, he missed a penalty. A few minutes later and undaunted by his penalty miss, he was surrounded by Linfield defenders on the edge of the penalty area.
With one glance towards the Linfield goal, he somehow chipped the ball into the far corner of the net. The old ground erupted to salute their favourite foot soldier. No other player on the pitch that day was capable of such majesty. There was always a greater eagerness squeezing through the Solitude turnstiles when Geordie was playing.
He was a footballer of the purist kind and someone who left an indelible impression on all those who watched him.
